How relevant are the Veterans today?

Does Tito Ortiz still peak interest with MMA fans?

How about Kazushi Sakuraba? Does the “Gracie Hunter” still make you wish you would have paid attention to Japanese manga more and bought a cheap leatard and called yourself a wrestler?

Well, I didn’t think so.

For most hardcore fans, Pedro Rizzo and Kevin Randleman are still names that resonate in the sport of MMA today, though they are clearly past their prime, people still tune in for the sentimental value they represent to us as fans, and we acknowledge them as pioneers of this very young sport, which hasn’t even seen two-full-decades yet.

But as the sport continues to grow, it’s these same fighters, these dimmed stars who won’t recieve their fair share of neither compensation, nor near star studded status that some enjoy today.

If you can liken Pedro Rizzo to anyone in his early days of the UFC, it would be Anderson Silva–based on his striking.

Meaning, that at the time, Rizzo was considered by most pundits, the greatest striker in MMA during his era. Battles with Randy Couture, Josh Barnett, Kevin Randleman, and Tank Abbot bolster his resume.

The Nova Uniao product crushed Barnett in the UFC, with a huge KO victory over the to be UFC heavyweight champion, but most probably remember their most recent meeting in Affliction not too long ago, when Barnett exacted revenge on a now-chinny Rizzo, crushing him with a left hook and a short a nap.

Tito Ortiz, while he still remains a draw do to his iconic presence that he won’t let you forget, as he was the man who initially set the precedent with title defenses with 5, before Anderson Silva trumped him with 6 (7, unofficially, since Travis Lutter couldn’t make weight) and he’s working on his 7th.

Interesting to note though, that both Anderson and Tito are just around the same age…but what make’s Silva the better all around fighter, and thus well recieved (most of the time) with fans and media alike–garnering attention is a pound-for-pound great?

While Ortiz remained in big bear and drudged it out with his same coaches, Saul Soliz for striking and Dean Lister for Jujitsu, Anderson traveled the world, fight in several different promotions, cross-trained with some of the best, and paired up with the Nogueria brothers and helped initiate “Black House”, he has been able to redefine himself again, and again.

Though both men are in the midst of constant criticsm and controversy, there’s no doubt that Silva is the better fight, even though both men began their inception into MMA about the same time.

And because he is the better fighter, he gets the bigger fights, the bigger fights, the more of a draw and house hold name he has become, making the old-timers less, and less relevant in an ever expanding sport.